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AN ADDRESS 



I) KMVEREI) B KI'Oll K 



The Literary Societies 



OK THE 



COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY, 



v,\ 



(;ENKRAL WILLIAM W. BELKNAP. 



AN 



A-IDIDI^/ESS 



DELIVERED BEFORE 



THE AMERICAN WHIG 



AND 



CLIOSOPHIC SOCIETIES 



OF THE 



COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY, 

At Princeton, June 27, 187 1, 



BY 



GENERAL WILLIAM W. BELKNAP, 

Secretary of War. 



PRINCETON : 
Printed by Charles S. Robinson, 
' 1871. 






JL'N 3 1916 



EXTRACT FROM THE MINUTES OF THE 
AMERICAN WHIG SOCIETY. 

Whig Hall, June 27tli, 1871. 

Resolved, That the thanks of the Society are hereby tendered to 
General Wm. W. Belknap, for his able address delivered before our 
Societies this day, and that a copy be requested for publication. 

f WILLIAM C. CATTELL. 
I MARTIN RYERSON. 
Committee, ] CHARLES W. SHIELDS, 
I RICHMOND PEARSON, 
L HENRY C. CAMERON. 



EXTRACT FROM THE MINUTES OF THE 
CLIOSOPHIC SOCIETY. 

Clio Hall, June 27th, 1871. 
Resolved, That for the able address of the Hon. Wm. W. Belknap, 
before the Whig and Cliosophic Societies of the College, the thanks of 
this Society be presented, and a copy of the said address be requested 
for publication. 

r .]. T. DQFFIELD. 
Committee,-^ D. DECKEli, 

i J. N. FREDERICKS. 



ADDRESS. 



It is the same old Princeton still. The ground 
on which we tread seems sacred. The very air 
revives the memories of days long gone. There 
have been many changes in these passing years. 
Lives have been lived that even prophetic ken could 
not presage, and it has seemed as if, in months, the 
events of years were crowded. Though touched by 
the influence of these changes, we, who years ago 
went from this spot to begin our battle with the 
world, gladly return to-day, like wanderers coming 
home ; to clasp the hands of classmates who have 
survived the perils of life ; to greet each other with 
the same warmth of affectionate feeling which years 
ago marked our companionship ; to bring and gladly 
give our testimony to the value of the treasury of 
learning here open to all ; to receive the welcomes 
which glisten from the eyes of the young and hope- 
ful, and which fall like blessings from the lips of 
those who pointed out to us the paths of knowledge ; 
and, affectionately mindful of the cherished past, to 



speak our vows of homage here before these altars 
and lay our gifts of gratitude upon old Nassau's 
shrine. 

The memories of college days come crowding on 
us now as fresh and full as ever. The lapse of time 
makes older men of all of us, but it does not dim 
the sight that looks back upon the past ; and the 
recollections that are dear to every graduate, with 
all their pleasant surroundings, are with us now as 
if they were fashioned into form but yesterday. 
Those grand old trees are larger, but their leaves 
are as green and their shade as refreshing as then. 
Old North, the home of so many hopes, has gone, 
but from its site come the sounds which are so like 
the tones of that old bell that they seem like the 
recurrence of familiar music. Looking down the 
list which tells us of our comrades, we find that 
many have left this life and gone to everlasting rest. 
Back to us come the remembrances which live when 
more unkindly thoughts die out — of their noble 
actions and their many virtues — and as we talk 
together of the past and live again in hours the 
lives of years, we give the tribute of our love to them 
— mourned as too early dead. And as we walk 
through those grounds where lie the great departed, 
and linger by the line of mounds where rest the 
illustrious men who faithfully gave life and wisdom 
to the formation of this seat of learning and opened 
the way for its future development — as we think of 
the name of Dickinson, which in lasting letters is 
found recorded first, high up on the column of its 



Presidents — of Edwards, the fame of whose mighty 
intellect will always live — of Witherspoon, the patriot 
divine, whose voice in his country's cause was guided 
by the dictates of duty — of Carnahan, whose words 
of considerate counsel have been listened to by many 
who now live to venerate his character, and of the 
others, all of whom by their lives gave lustre to their 
work, we give their memories our grateful reverence. 
Watching the unfolding of that great future which 
comes as the result of duty done, when we reflect 
upon the obstacles which they overcame and consider 
the magnitude of the attempts made when the colo- 
nies were weak, 'we feel in our hearts that ''they 
builded better than they knew." 

To these halls we return to fmd the institution 
of our love the same, and yet more prosperous. In 
her progressive march she gathers new friends to her 
support ; she forms increased attachments and 
attracts new allies ; she calls to her new command 
new recruits, and under the guardianship of her 
protecting arm and her instructing voice, holds new 
accessions of young men. 

The advantages offered in America for the suc- 
cess in life of educated men, commend themselves 
constantly to reflecting minds. The debt that col- 
lege graduates owe the institution wherein that 
education was acquired, can be computed by no 
easy reckoning. 

The progress of American principles and the 
growth of the American Nation are themes which 
have commanded the voices of orators when it was 



8 

deemed a duty to boast of the advance of the land 
in science, in Hterature, and in all those qualities 
which contribute to the fame of a great Nation ; and 
while the constant repetition of this expression of 
pride is at times tiresome, the fact is before us, so 
plainly evident that its truth cannot be doubted, that 
the country is yet in the infancy of life, and that its 
extensive resources and the elements which form its 
strength, and which will hereafter disclose the power 
of its dominion, have not yet reached beyond the 
mere beginning of development. The most fervent 
imagination could not have dreamed ten years ago 
of the results that surely, though slowly, were evolved 
from that great struggle which demanded the ser- 
vices and strong arms of millions of men, and called 
from the treasury millions of money — which was 
begun and fought and was ended, under the leader- 
ship of him who is with us here to-day, leaving a 
Government stronger than ever, richer than ever, 
and a people the tenor of whose life moved on 
undisturbed by the momentous events which had 
surprised the world and given their part to history. 
From sea to sea that country grows. Far in the 
West new States spring from the wilderness and 
demand for themselves stars on the flag. Beyond 
the spot where the pioneer has penetrated lie mys- 
teries, the revelation of whose riches the Govern- 
ment sends its engineers to seek. From all directions 
— from central points and from the borders of the 
continent, come, in instantaneous flashes, that intel- 
ligence which tells the course of wind and cloud, 



and gives so true a forecast of coming atmospheric 
changes, that we are forced to study the immense 
extent of territory, which, from such distances, sends 
its messao-es in moments. A hne of travel from the 
Missouri to the Ocean, on the west, built through 
lands almost unknown before the rails were laid, 
finds its capacity pressed beyond belief. Above and 
below that line — among those regions watered by 
the Red River of the North, and where the more 
generous soil is warmed by a sun whose heat is 
nearer that of the tropics — great arms of iron are 
reaching out tow^ard the Pacific and commanding 
successfully the capital of the land for their support. 
The subject is no new one and yet demands our 
thoughts. Human prophecy cannot foretell the 
greatness of a land whose growth in wealth and 
population has been so wonderful and so far beyond 
all hope, and the centre of whose empire is moving 
rapidly and surely in the direction of the setting sun. 
The State of Illinois, the census shows, has increased 
in the last decade from 1,700,000 to 2,500,000 ; Ore- 
gon has increased j^) P^^ cent. ; Iowa, 'jG per cent. ; 
Minnesota, 155 per cent.; Kansas, 239 per cent.; 
Nebraska, 326 per cent. ; Nevada, 519 per cent., and 
the State of Wisconsin increasing from 750,000 to 
over 1,000,000, a State barely a quarter of a century 
in age, has now a population but little less than that 
of Virginia. These are presented, without selection, 
as examples, and these States may soon be passed 
in the race for pre-eminence and power, by some 
which, yet unknown, contain within themselves wealth 



lO 

which cannot be estimated and which attract from 
the older States the settlers who become the pioneers 
of the more remote West. Reflecting upon these 
results, not pictured by the imagination, but stamped 
in letters which we must read in map and history, 
what may not be its future as these developments 
advance ? 

In such a land as that there can be no continued 
failure in the efforts of the educated man who, re* 
liant on the will which God has given him, on the 
strength of mind which he should possess, and on 
the education which in earlier days has disciplined 
his life and thought, stands a peer among his fellows 
in that power which enables him to mould circum- 
stances to his uses and to make himself manifest as 
a man among men. There are no troubles too great 
to be overcome, there are no barriers in the path of 
him who wins success by the accomplishment of duty. 
With the will and the desire in harmony there can 
be nothing but certain victory. 

The rivalries which incite endeavor in institutions 
of learning, which, under other circumstances might 
induce envv and discontent, reallv encouraQ^e the 
finer feelings of nature. The associations which 
cluster around the student, the ambition which 
prompts him to success, the feeling of generous emu- 
lation which guides him in his efforts — all combine 
to take from ill-success the sting of regret, and to 
impress upon his mind the high character of the ex- 
ertion which nerves him to the task. Here his im- 
pressions are first formed and his hopes increase his 



1 1 



aspirations. Here, at the entrance of a career of 
which he has the highest anticipations, and on which 
he is eager to advance, he obtains but a dim gHmpse 
of that future which to his eye is pictured in the 
brightest hues. Helooks upon a landscape whose 
heaven has no clouds, but all is sunshine. And when 
he enters upon that new career, when the failure of 
cherished schemes and the fall of fond hopes shakes 
his faith, relying upon that education which in earlier 
years has been transferred to his own keeping, he 
can rise above disappointment, he can resist the im- 
pression that failure makes, and, faithful to his early 
teachings, overcoming fate, go forth in life a con- 
queror of himself and of his fortune. 

Repetition may weary us with the story of the 
advantages which our country offers to men anxious 
for reputation and the distinction of an honored life, 
and yet no clearer field for high advancement was 
ever before open to the hope and the conscientious 
ambition of the Christian statesman. To men of no 
single creed or pride of birth alone does the op- 
portunity come. Determined trial and strong will 
and patient energy all lead to prosperous fortune. 
There is a purpose which, when once resolved upon, 
rarely results in failure. There is a trust, too, which, 
when all other reliance seems weak, is found a sure 
support. And he who keeps the faith will temper 
his self-reliance with the sacred influences of that 
inspimtion which tells him that " Promotion cometh 
neither from the East nor from the West nor from 



12 



the South : But God Is the judge ; he putteth down 
one and setteth up another." 

The teachings given In early Hfe are firmly fasten- 
ed In the minds of all who have enjoyed the benefits, 
and, In proper spirit, accepted the advantages, which 
the larger colleges extend. Fixed forever are those 
moral principles which were instilled into their hearts 
before they grew, perhaps, impresslonless with age. 
As the years go on they find themselves relying on 
the lessons of early days to lead them. And it is 
when the remembrance of those distant influences 
strengthens their purpose and renews their hope ; 
it Is when relieved from fear of failure, from doubt 
and self-distrust — they come triumphing from their 
trials — that they should realize, in the fullness 
of its measure, the amount of the debt which Is due 
from them to the Institution which has schooled and 
prepared them for these struggles. It Is a debt of 
love. Memory will tell them of the attachments 
which were formed when the most effective impres- 
sions were made upon their minds — when their hearts 
were more easily touched than in later years by fit- 
ting influences. Bound as they are by these memo- 
ries to foster a lasting love for this early home, they 
should not fail to keep it In affectionate recognition. 
It Is a debt of gratitude. Though they might pos- 
sess some memories which could be unthought of, 
yet, year after year, as they almost wavered in the 
struggle for success, burdened by heavy triat, how 
grateful the recollection of the hallowed scenes of 

o 

student life which had for them so many hours of 



13 

happiness. The tenderest ties are the strongest. 
They spring from friendships early formed, when 
hearts are unseared by trial, and motives are un- 
touched by wrong. Though it may be sometimes 
disguised, our hearts beat quickly when college 
friends are met and college memories recalled. The 
yearnings of our souls go toward them and the sad 
regret is often felt that toil and labor and disappoint- 
ment have no alleviation like the happiness of those 
younger days. It is fortunate indeed that we have 
these consecrated recollections. 

In one of the most severe battles of the war of 
the rebellion, in the Atlanta campaign, on July 28, 
1864, known as the battle of Ezra Church, the 15th 
Corps, part of the Army of the Tennessee, was at- 
tacked very heavily by the enemy under Hood, and 
re-enforcements were required at special points. 
Among the forces sent to aid their brother soldiers, 
whose lines were becoming weaker under the re- 
peated assaults of a foe more numerous than them- 
selves, were two regiments of Blair's 17th Corps, 
one a regiment from New Jersey and the other from 
Iowa. Falling into line in the works temporarily 
vacated by their toil-worn comrades, side by side and 
shoulder to shoulder, the men of these regiments 
repelled attack after attack of the confederate bat- 
talions. In the lull that occurred after one of the 
terrific charges made by the enemy, and while the 
men were resting and quietly awaiting the next ad- 
vance, it happened that the Adjutant of the New 
Jersey regiment and the Colonel of the Iowa regi- 



'4 

ment were thrown together, and in a soldier's infor- 
mal way, entered into famiHar conversation. They 
had never met before, but each was surprised to learn 
that the friends of one were the friends of the other 
— that the early teachings of the one were given him 
on the same spot and among the same scenes where 
was passed the student life of the other, and there, 
in the midst of the havoc of battle, each greeted in 
the other a graduate of Princeton. Another charge 
came from the enemy, which was repelled as were 
the others, and as these two men, when the fire 
abated, returned again from the military duties their 
position required, under the trees and upon the rocks 
in the rear of that line of battle, they talked of col- 
lege days ; of those earnest teachers who years be- 
fore had led them ifi ways which were '' ways of 
pleasantness," and of that venerable man whom all 
graduates love with tender affection, for his kindly 
character, and his devotion to them in hours when 
they needed friendship. Never was there a more 
forcible illustration of the power and spirit of early 
associations. Without their knowledge and almost 
imperceptibly the ties of regard for their Alma Mater 
had been fastened so securely around the hearts of 
these two men, one from the extreme East and the 
other from a rising State beyond the Mississippi, 
that in actual action, and in the presence of death, 
that memory was sacred and abiding. 

For many years the venerated institution, to whose 
commencement we have all so gladly come, quietly 
received from willing homes their yearly tribute of 



15 

young and hopeful men. Doing her duty calmly, 
faithfully, and with scarce an effort, and entering into 
no contest for prominence, that sure groundwork was 
made upon whose solid base now rests a structure 
which, founded upon a rock, begins to rise in beau- 
tiful proportions. She has latterly had new life, and. 
suddenly shaking off these garments of quiet ease, 
she has stepped forth defiant, energetic, eager for 
the advance and determined to attain it, and, in her 
own progress, striving to keep pace with the march 
of that Nation, the blood of whose patriots, in the 
beginning of her life, in revolutionary days, moistened 
the soil where her foundations lie. To new achieve- 
ments, to higher labors, to the accomplishment of 
greater results, to the fulfilme'nt of a nobler mission, 
she must proceed. There is no faltering now. The 
field of her action is a clear one. Thirteen States 
have increased to thirty-seven. From ocean to ocean 
the band extends — soon to be laid in triple lines of 
iron — which shall bind the land together in everlast- 
ing bonds, as the hearts of its people will be tied, 
come what may, in an unbroken union. And an in- 
stitution like this, reaching out its arms beyond the 
narrow sphere which apparently bounds its work, 
and moulding its purposes to the demands of the age 
and the necessities of the Nation, should so fulfil its 
labors and extend its efficiency, that long before the 
graduate of to-day finishes the first half century of 
his life he may find the name of his Alma Mater a 
familiar word on the lips of every cultivated man in 
the land, and her sons in numbers hailing from every 



i6 

State. This consummation can be achieved if the 
graduates pay the debt which they so clearly owe. 
With them her history, full as it is of names and 
events which make her humblest son feel proud, 
should never be suffered to fall into forgetfulness. 

The free school system of most of the States of 
the Union — extending the privileges of instruction 
to the young of all classes, and gathering within the 
unlimited circle of its beneficence all of every sta- 
tion, regardless of wealth or position — commends 
itself to the considerate judgment of those who re- 
flect upon the necessity which requires general edu- 
cation ; a necessity which demands this result for the 
well-being of the State ; for the public comfort, and 
for the furtherance of those principles of justice, 
morality and order which should characterize every 
civilized Commonwealth. Wherever settlements 
spring up in remote regions, the school-houses are 
among the earliest signs of promising growth, and 
even where all seems uninviting, the presence of this 
sure indication of an approach to more intelligent 
life removes an impression otherwise unkind, and, 
generally, by the power of their influence, the plain- 
est localities are made attractive. With the growth 
of the country, and with the extension of those mea- 
sures which, as communities become stronger, in- 
crease educational facilities, institutions of greater 
power and higher purposes, rising from time to time, 
mark by their own advancement the improvement of 
the people. To stimulate these — to promote their 
interests, and to aid with generous encouragement 



their exertions for enlarged efficiency, is an obliga- 
tion whose execution brings its own perfect recom- 
pense. 

Notwithstanding the increase of the nation in 
population and in the rapid formation of new States, 
it seems a certainty that, for many years to comie, a 
few institutions will be recognized as the leaders in 
literary culture and as prominent in the promotion 
and advancement of knowledge. The advantages 
they possess attract to them students in larger pro- 
portion than institutions of younger life, and with- 
out a record in the past, can claim ; for their history 
and traditions have a fascination for cultivated minds, 
and as they send forth bands of disciplined men, 
their responsibilities are vast indeed. Upon them, 
to a great extent, will depend the development of 
those educational influences which will build up, in 
the near future, similar seats of learning throughout 
the country, and diffuse, beyond anticipation, the 
benefits of those blessings which have been imparted 
to the few. To widen the circle of their controllino^ 
power, and to augment, beyond its present limits, 
the number of those to whom these privileges should 
be accorded, is their high duty. The union of repre- 
sentatives of Alumni in occasional gatherings — 
where views of progress could be taken ; where sug- 
gestions for improvement could be exchanged, and 
where there could be a minorlinof of sentiment and 

o o 

opinion — might result in binding together more har- 
moniously in the same cause those now separated; 
in concentrating efforts which are now divided, and 



i8 

in cheering every lover of the promotion of true in- 
struction with the knowledge that institutions, parted 
in location, in judgment and in belief — agreeing to 
differ in these — were still united in laboring, with 
liberal emulation, in the noble cause of elevated 
education. 

Gentlemen of the Cliosophic and American 
Whig Societies : — 

The privileges which are yours here are far be- 
yond your realization. An appreciation of their 
character is difficult until you enter upon professional 
or business avocations, and in the active conflict of 
opinion and in the real labor of life, you will have 
presented the full importance of your opportunities. 
In a land like ours, where in public bodies and before 
assemblages of intelligent people, great questions 
are discussed and debated by those who are attached 
to deliberative bodies and by those who aspire to 
station, the exertion given to duties which your socie- 
ties present finds its full reward. No talent is re- 
cognized as of greater value to any man than the 
ability to express, in appropriate language, the rea- 
sons which control his action and direct his course. 
The form of government under which we live — popu- 
larized by the constant changes occurring — accords 
to this endowment extraordinary power. All the 
aids in this direction are offered you here to an ex- 
tent which you can only measure when hereafter, 
perhaps, you revive the recollection of lost advant- 
ages. A generous rivalry has ever prompted your 



19 

endeavors. Each of you clings with very proper 
pride to the society of his choice. Among shades Hke 
these, in halls made classic by treasured recollections, 
the stories of the men of earlier days, whose lips 
here learned to speak the words of eloquence, almost 
bring with them inspiration. Both societies have 
sent throughout the land, and throughout all lands, 
men with ability beyond question and reputation 
above reproach. And in the long succession of emi- 
nent men whose names illustrate the pages of Ameri- 
can history, there are many who signed your rolls 
whose eloquence has been effective, whose oratory 
has been powerful, whose influence has been wise 
and extended — who formed the basis of their public 
life within your halls and traced the origin of their 
success to the days when they wore the red badge 
or the blue. 

Again another year rolls on and brings the day 
of departure from these scenes. It is the old, old 
story. With all its happiness it has the same sad 
side. Partings are made of friends for whom there 
may not be on earth another meeting. There are 
ties broken by this separation which can never be 
renewed. Answering lips, when the last farewell is 
said, will reveal the emotion which honors manly 
hearts, and the eyes which brighten with seemly joy 
will be moistened when the thought of final parting 
comes. Bonds of affection such as those formed 
here, however high may be our hopes, cannot be 
broken without sincere regret. But the glad thoughts 
which control our aspirations make it a day of happi- 



20 



ness. The welcome greeting which comes from 
home will soon be yours. The approving smiles of 
those who are dear to you by all the ties of kindred 
cheer you on. The language spoken to you has only 
words of love, while at the beginning of that journey 
which has rough roads and perilous paths you almost 
tread on flowers. 

To you it seems as if your years reached far into 
the future. The shadows of the day are not more 
fleeting. The hands on the dial bemn to move faster 
and faster even now. Soon from the weary work 
of life, regretfully looking here, you will remember 
days which, never returning, will be hallowed in your 
hearts. Hereafter, when sometimes hope seems 
gone and disappointment comes in all its bitterness, 
the recollection of this college parting will be gladly 
welcomed as you recall, when friends seem few, the 
benedictions of this hour. 

Our glimpses of the future are uncertain, and 
none can claim prophetic vision ; but we can have 
faith in the hoped-for fulfilment of those wishes 
which go with you as you leave this consecrated 
spot. Then, when your days on earth are done, 
mingling with your memories no regret, there will 
be given from you to those you love the honored 
record of a manly life. 



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